


Lemon Lime

by Val_Creative



Series: Rainbow Femslash February 2020 [12]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Body Dysphoria, Childhood Friends, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Femslash, Femslash February, Femslash February 2020, Friends to Lovers, Gender Dysphoria, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Introspection, Lesbian Beverly Marsh, Light Angst, Married Life, Parenthood, Post-IT (2017), Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Romance, Trans Female Ben Hanscom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22685728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Creative/pseuds/Val_Creative
Summary: Beverly probably doesn’t even like girls.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh
Series: Rainbow Femslash February 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620025
Comments: 31
Kudos: 50
Collections: Femslash February





	Lemon Lime

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT NOTE: Ben still uses he/him pronouns and seriously considers changing them when older. Full warning about pronoun usage if that throws you off. Criticism is not welcome (especially from radfems/terfs/gender critical) because the people in my community who are lesbians and use he/him — or even they/them or other pronouns — are just valid as lesbians who use she/her. Same will be said in a fictional context. End of discussion. 
> 
> This is for Day 12 " _Another World_ " for the Femslash February [prompts](https://femslashfeb.tumblr.com/post/190473208546/any-world-any-fandom-any-originals-however-you). Any positive comments are appreciated!

*

In another world, Ben would look the way he _wanted_.

He would look like a girl was supposed to and Beverly would _love_ him like he loved her.

The gym teacher is Mr. Kenneth. Mr. Kenneth runs the soccer team and calls Ben "worthless" and a "porker" in front of the other kids while they're playing softball. A couple of the girls, including Greta Keane, snicker. When he isn't paying attention, Beverly pulls out her gum and flicks it against Mr. Kenneth's sweat-shorts. A huge wet glob of raspberry-blue right on the crack of his ass.

She aims a sly, friendly wink to Ben right in his face, passing by, heading to the indoor bleachers. He pinkens, fiddling his hands.

Ben isn't a girl. Not like this. Beverly probably doesn't even _like_ girls.

They're only thirteen or fourteen when Beverly kisses him. No, not like in the sewers. That wasn't even the _first_ time they kissed when Ben freed her from Pennywise's deadlights. This time, it's when nobody pairs up with Ben during first period gym class.

He glimpses Beverly's long, sunny red hair. She kneels in front of him, holding down Ben's sneakers.

"You gotta do at least one sit-up or Mr. Kenneth won't shut up about it."

Ben's lips bite in. He lies out on his back, defeated, and then grunts, sitting up with all of his effort. In the background, someone laughs. Ben gives up halfway, throwing his arm over his eyes and frowning. Without him knowing, Beverly flips off Richie Tozier.

"Don't be like that, New Kid," she says, trying to be encouraging. Ben peeks over. "You come here and I'll give you a kiss."

"Wh-what…?"

"You heard me," Beverly murmurs, grinning smugly.

Something in Ben's chest warms, boiling over and spilling all kind of emotions. Mostly determination.

He tries sitting up again, struggling for a moment, and then finally gets inches from Beverly. Counting all of her freckles against her pale, soft skin. She pecks Ben's lips, opening hers slightly. There's a flavor on Beverly's mouth like lemon-lime soda. Crisp and clean and _real_.

It's one of the first memories that Ben regains when he's forty, answering Mike's phone call, returning to Derry.

Ben remembers all of his life he felt _wrong_. His body wasn't how it _should_ be. Anyone would assume it was about being overweight. That never bothered Ben unless he needed to run or fit into a small, enclosed space — no, Ben only lost the weight because he loved running. Running from his problems. Running out of his whirling, self-loathing thoughts.

Running from the inevitability as a kid that Ben could never be a woman and be _with_ a woman who understood what this felt like.

Richie, Eddie, Bill, and Mike remember they liked men. Beverly confesses, while she's drinking on Ben's yacht and stroking over Tom's fading, dark bruises, that she likes women. _Only_ women. It just took her a long, long time to admit it to herself.

Ben tells her his secret, expecting anything but Beverly, pink-cheeked and encouraging, to _kiss_ him.

She's relieved. She wouldn't have been sure what to make of her attraction to Ben if he had been a cisgendered man.

It's nearly a year when Ben decides he wants to seriously consider treatments and surgeries. A legal name change. He's not uncomfortable with he/him pronouns, but it would be nice to hear Beverly call Ben " _her wife_ " when they're ready to try it.

They move to Connecticut. Beverly has already divorced her husband, happily strolling around with Ben's two-year-old wedding ring on her finger and their one-year-old daughter on her hip. A mess of freckles and sunny red curls. Ben's dark eyes.

Arlene K. Hanscom, or affectionately deemed "Kay" to her parents, obsesses over her Lego sets and Barbie fashion stickers.

Beverly complains about working out, still recovering from giving birth to their infant son. She's puffy-faced from crying. Something about not being able to zip herself into her favorite, skinny pair of her jeans. "Give it time," Ben whispers, holding her. "Shh."

"God, what the hell am I doing with my life… I'm not even a decent lesbian… I don't own flannel…"

"What's that got to do with it?" Ben asks, genuinely confused. "Bev, you _know_ who you are."

Beverly's damp, hazel eyes crinkle. "It's a joke, honey."

He blinks.

" _Oh_."

"For real, I can't do a sit-up right now. That's how pathetic I feel."

"Hey," Ben whispers, clasping Beverly's knees and leaning over their mattress, beaming. "You come here and I'll give you a kiss."

He chuckles when Beverly's eyes light up and she cheats, gripping to Ben's hands positioned to her own knees. But fair's fair. Ben kisses her deeply, groaning into Beverly's smiling lips, touching her neck and savoring every bit of lasting heat.

They're their world.

*


End file.
